Buffalo Bills’ Damar Hamlin and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer with students and Bills Mafia in support of HEARTS Act (December 9, 2024)
A bill to make CPR training accessible and put AED units in all schools has passed the U.S. Senate and is heading to President Biden‘s desk to be signed into law.
Buffalo Bills’ Safety Damar Hamlin and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a press conference Monday in support of the HEARTS Act.
Schumer said that the bipartisan Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act, which has now passed both chambers and heads to the President’s desk, will provide direct grants to elementary and secondary schools. The bill will create a grant program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training, in addition to supporting the purchase of AEDs and the development of cardiac emergency response plans, which can more than double survival rates from cardiac arrest by empowering people nearby to dial 911, start CPR and use an AED.
When Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during an NFL game in January 2023, the Bills medical team used an AED and performed CPR, saving Hamlin’s life. Since then Hamlin has used his miraculous and inspirational recovery story to help kids across the country, working with Schumer to create a new federal program that will help put more AEDs in schools. Hamlin and Schumer worked together to garner bipartisan support for the law, which passed in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
In schools with AEDs, children who experience cardiac arrest are seven times as likely to survive as children in schools without AEDs. Schumer also highlighted the importance of CPR training for students and adults in schools, saying that for every minute without CPR, chances of survival drop by 10%. With more people confident in their ability to perform CPR, people experiencing cardiac arrest will get the care they need more quickly.
This happens more than people realize. This happened on my son’s baseball team and thanks to the fast acting coaches and players the boy’s life was saved. The exact same thing happened to this boy as happened to Damar. There is no reason these machines should not be available to all as well as training to know how to use them. This saves lives!!